DNA 'bank' could cure diseases

A national DNA 'bank' which will help worldwide research into motor neurone disease was being launched today.

Three people die as a result of MND - which causes increased paralysis as nerve cells die - every day in the UK.

Blood samples from 6,000 people will be collected in a bid to help scientists isolate the gene responsible for the terminal condition.

MND sufferers, their relatives, as well as healthy individuals will be researched over the next five years at centres in Birmingham, London and Sheffield.

Dr Brian Dickie, director of research and development at the Motor Neurone Disease Association, said: "MND was first characterised over 130 years ago, but due to the lack of a central source of DNA samples, research into the disease has been severely hampered.

"Our dedicated care centres will lead this initiative which, in the long-term, will really make a difference to the lives of people with MND and their families."

A £1 million fundraising campaign to help set up the regional centres at King's College Hospital, London, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, has been spearheaded by the MND Association.